Editor’s Note: As we continue our series of blogs for those who are reading the Bible with us cover-to-cover this year, we step into the …
Beginning Of Death and Destruction In The Fall (3)
If everything started out so wonderful why did things go so bad? When God designed humanity, he gave him a free will. An essential part of our personality is our ability to choose. With our ability to choose, we were also given the freedom to fail. One of the core truths of the Bible is that God wants the best for us, and if we follow his directions, we will enjoy the best life has to offer. But if we choose to ignore his directions, or disobey them directly, he will not experience all that life has to offer.
When God created the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, he provided them with a perfect environment in which to live. There was only one prohibition: they were to obey God to avoid DEATH. God had commanded in Genesis 2:16-17:
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (New King James Version)
Adam and Eve willfully chose to disobey God’s command, and His warning. The results were:
· Shame of their nakedness (3-7)
· Fear of God’s presence (3.8-10)
· Blame, instead of accepting responsibility for their actions (3.9-13)
· Consequences for their disobedience (3.14-19)
· Removal from God’s perfect environment for living (3.20-24)
The consequences for their disobedience are still being felt today in our lives. Not until God restores his rule on this planet will we know the restoration of this time by God. We will discuss this in more detail at the end of the New Testament journey.
Beginning Of God’s Intervention With The Flood (4-10)
As you journey through this section, notice carefully how things degenerate rapidly. The first disobedience in the garden in chapter 3, leads to the first murder in chapter 4. The judgment upon Cain in chapter 4, is just the beginning of a downward spiral of actions, actions which God calls wicked.
Only 1,056 years has passed since the creation of a perfect world as you read through this section. However, the effects of disobedience to God are so great that God decides he will remove all of humanity in one event: the worldwide flood. God’s thinking on this matter is expressed in Genesis 6.5 – 7:
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” (New King James Version)
The flood was to cover the entire earth (6.17), but one man and his family would escape. The reason Noah escapes the worldwide flood is important to the traveler on this journey through the Bible. Noah finds grace in the eyes of God because of his character (6.8-9). So it is even to this day, God gives grace to those whose character demonstrates that they are seeking to obey him.
We will continue this series with our next installment: “The Beginning of the Nations”
You can obtain more help from the FREE Bible reading schedule on our resource page. In His Image is a daily devotional that also follows our reading schedule and expresses the Biblical truth: “God Created You to Love You.” You can find this resource on the side bar of our website.
